With apologies that it has been a while since Julian (the older and arguably wiser one) and I have been on one of our study tours, busily visiting every pub in a town. It’s not something we do for public esteem, it’s just as a public service. Julian grew up in this area after the war and so had something of a local knowledge of many of the pubs that we visited, although sadly he was able to point out numerous places that are no longer open.

We got the train into Oulton Broad North and I pondered whether I’d been to that Greggs before, I’m not sure if I have. We went into everywhere that was open and defined itself as being a pub or something similar, including the Flying Dutchman into proceedings even though it was a little bit of a walk away.

Everywhere other than the Flying Dutchman had real ale, although the only one that offered a real ale from outside of East Anglia was at Broadview. It was Broadview that surprised and delighted me, it has been there for longer than I realised and it had the widest selection of real ales of the day. The Waveney was the cheapest venue of the day for drinks, it’s a Craft Union pub and I’d say that was the friendliest welcome.

Anyway, my little reviews of each venue are below and, as ever, all credit to the owners and managers for keeping these pubs going. These are challenging times for pubs and they all provide a marvellous service to the local area by being open and allowing people to have a place to visit to get drink, food, meet friends and to just feel part of the community.

The pubs we visited were:

Commodore

Flying Dutchman

The Waveney

Lady of the Lake

Broadview

Wherry Hotel

Sadly this one has gone:

George Borrow

The final venue we visited on our study tour was the Wherry Hotel, formerly part of the local Castle Carvery chain and now part of RedCat, the relatively new pub chain started by former Greene King boss Rooney Anand.

There was a licensed premises here from the 1840s, but in 1897 the owner George Mason wanted something that bit bigger and better. By 1900, it was all ready and open with the advert above placed in the local newspapers. They were also advertising that they welcomed choirs and other outings, they were certainly ready for big groups. Not only that they were proud of their electric lighting and also their new billiards table.

There was a rather beautiful view over Oulton Broad.

This is a large venue and there’s a bar area, a more lounge area as well as a substantial dining area. Food and drink is served throughout the day, including a carvery option which is set at a very realistic and affordable price.

I went for a turkey carvery meal and opted against the big plate, which would have disappointed Alan Partridge. The carvery was rather lovely, the meat was tender, the roast potatoes suitably crisp and the gravy suitably meaty (a vegetarian one was available for those who didn’t look want a meaty gravy). The menu is also broad, there are lighter options, vegan options and so on, with the pricing all towards the lower end of the scale.

There were a couple of real ales, including Woodforde’s Wherry and Lacon’s Encore, although I opted for a pint of Guinness. This was served in the way that I would expect and tasted as I had hoped for.

The service here is always friendly and attentive, it’s a comfortable and clean venue which is a reliable option. The food and drink is all of a decent quality and the atmosphere is inviting. For those wanting to stay, there are thirty rooms here and it’s all something of a substantial operation.

Next on our little sojourn of Oulton Broad was Broadview, a venue that I hadn’t heard of before and initially I thought that it might be a little too decadent for me if it was more of a wine bar arrangement.

This is the reason for the venue’s name, they overlook Oulton Broad.

This was the best real selection of the day with a national real ale, a more specialist local ale and a traditional local bitter. This surprised and delighted me. The welcome at the bar was friendly and timely, with the whole arrangement feeling inviting. I’m not overly taken by fires, so this compromise of one on a screen is entirely acceptable to me.

This photo makes it look a little more dreary than it actually was, the venue felt comfortable, inviting and homely.

I went for the Brewers Series classic porter from Lacons and it was well-kept, malty, dark and rich. It’s not what I would consider a traditional porter to taste like and it had more caramel and biscuit tastes, but there’s some heritage to the recipe of this and it’s interesting. The older and wiser Julian went for a Figgy’s Brew from Skinner’s Brewery and I’m pleased to report that he thought it was well-kept, malty and pleasant.

We visited in early November and so there was much excitement of the Christmas decorations being put up.

As the venue felt modern and on-trend, I thought that it was a more recent opening, but it has transpired that it has been going for over fifteen years so I have no idea how I hadn’t heard of it. There are regular music events on weekend evenings and food is also served at lunchtimes and in the evenings.

With friendly service, a clean environment, a decent selection of real ales and an inviting atmosphere, this was a really delightful visit and the prices were reasonable. All very lovely.

The next pub on our study day tour in Oulton Broad was the Lady of the Lake. Apologies for the slightly blurry photos, I’m blaming the Monster Munch in the previous pub.

An interesting marketing opportunity inside the front door. The venue first opened in the 1840s and is now managed by the small LEC pubs chain.

There’s a large dining area and I think that the venue is quite food led and the prices aren’t unreasonable. It was quiet when we were there, just one other table with drinks.

The bar is bright and open with a few stools for those that want to perch by it. There was a prompt welcome and they had two real ales on, with the prices being reasonable.

I ordered half a Ghost Ship from Adnams and I only noticed when back at the table, but it smelled slightly vinegary and had a sharp off taste. It might have been the end of a barrel, maybe just lingering in the lines for a while, but these things happen. I’m not entirely sure that the team member looked keen to replace it, and indeed they left the beer on sale, but they did replace it without any query so that was positive.

The replacement was Wainwrights Golden Ale, with quite a lot of bubbles sticking to the side of the glass, but it was well kept and had its usual hoppy taste. Julian had also gone for this and was entirely satisfied with his, so that was all good.

There’s live music every Saturday night and a variety of other events held here, with the venue seemingly getting positive reviews online. I like that their website specifically mentioned that it’s fully wheelchair accessible, as although venues often are, it’s positive that this is something that’s made clear.

I’m not sure that I’ve been to the Waveney before, but this was the next pub on Julian and mine’s little travails around Oulton Broad. This is part of Stonegate’s Craft Union brand which has prices firmly towards the lower end of the scale.

The pub opened in the 1880s and was the section that is lit up red in the above photo, with this frontage being a later addition. More recently, it was operated by Moss & Co, who run the Commodore amongst other locations, as a sports and music bar between 2018 and 2021, before Stonegate decided to manage it themselves.

There was a very reasonably priced London Pride, so I went with that, as well as opting for some more food pairing opportunities with Flaming Hot Monster Munch. I prefer Roast Beer, but it’s good to experiment with new flavour combinations. The beer was well kept, tasted as expected and was at the appropriate temperature.

There’s a variety of seating styles from higher chairs, tables and also sofas. It’s clear that there’s been something of an investment here in terms of a large refurbishment. Everything was spotlessly clean and it also had a warm and cosy feel to the whole arrangement, it didn’t feel cold either in terms of the temperature or welcome.

It was all bright and felt welcoming.

They show live sports and there’s also a darts board to entertain customers. I’ve never seen a dart thing like this which helps players work out the two and three dart finishes.

They were putting up the Christmas decorations when we were there in early November, so there seemed to be an excitement about that whole process. The team members were friendly, warm and engaging, so once again, it felt a welcoming place to be.

I’ve come to really rather like Craft Union pubs, they seem to be thriving around the country and they’re doing that by pushing the community pub dynamic without trying to operate food sales. It seems to be working here, this was one of the pubs that I found to be the most welcoming because of the level of informality.

The second pub on our little Oulton Broad expedition was the Flying Dutchman and I have been here a few times before. Formerly known as the Flying Dutchman Hotel, it was opened at the end of the nineteenth century and as its name suggests, it offered accommodation.

Unfortunately, this is another one of those venues where the newspapers seem to just report bad things that happened nearby. In 1912, Fred Richmond who was the eight year old son of a local fisherman was playing at horses by the pub before running into the road and being hit by a car owned by Lieut. Henry Thomas Gartside-Tipping (1848-1915). He’s interesting in his own right as he came back from retirement to serve in the First World War, aged 75, but he was killed in action. His widow was also killed in 1917 when serving with the Women’s Emergency Corps.

Back to the pub though, and there’s a little snapshot of what would have been in the private accommodation at this time as the retiring landlord Joseph Balls put it all up for auction in 1923. It consisted of:

“HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, including: Suites in Walnut and Mahogany. Sideboards, Coat, Hat and Umbrella Stand, Dining, Loo Card and other Tables, Fenders, Hearthrugs, Carpet and Linoleums. Fine Toned Trichord Check Action Iron Frame UPRIGHT PIANOFORTE in Walnut (by Schreiner). Polyphon, Gramophone, Chimney Glasses, Pictures, Grandfather Clock in oak case (chimes 5 tunes), Plated Articles, Cutlery, Feather Beds, Bolsters and Pillows, Bedsteads, Wire Spring and Wool Mattresses, Old Spanish Mahogany Wardrobe, Dressing Glasses, Commodes, Bidet, Mahogany Duchesse Dressing Tables and Marble Top Washstands, Chests of Drawers, Cupboards and Cabinets, Glass and Earthenware, Cottage Mangle, Kitchen and Culinary Articles, and Outdoor Effects.”

Back to today, it’s owned by Admiral Taverns and it seems to have a decent reputation locally for being a solidly run community pub.

The bar is bright and welcoming, although the drinks choice was a little more limited with no real ale and some generic national brands. There was though at least Guinness and I thought that I’d just go with that.

There’s my Guinness waiting for the two part pour.

Some very decent prices here, especially on Monday when pizzas are just £5 each. We already had a food plan for the evening, but this looked very tempting.

The Guinness was all as expected and I’d paired it well with some Mini Cheddars.

There was a bit of a dining vibe to the internal arrangements, but it was all clean and welcoming.

And some quizzing excitement.

I liked this pub, it’s a clearly popular community pub with numerous events, keenly priced food and an inviting environment. The idea of having affordable food which is of a decent quality to bring people in seems a really good one, with a number of events and live sports as well.

I’d never visited the Commodore before and so I was unaware of the rather lovely views which it has over the lake. Like the Harbour in Lowestoft, it’s operated by Moss & Co who have a number of local venues.

The Commodore has been a licensed premises since at least the mid nineteenth century, previously known as the Commodore Inn when I assume from the name it would have had accommodation available. It was run by the Stebbings family for some time, although there was a tragedy in 1891 when William Edward Adams, aged 20, died when falling through the ice on what they thought was a frozen lake. Quantrell Stebbings, the landlord, shouted a warning to Adams and his friend before they embarked on their expedition, but it was to no avail. It was no surprise Stebbings shouted out a warning, there had been mention in the newspaper the week before that two separate groups had a narrow escape under similar circumstances, with one lad who fell in being looked after in the Commodore.

More recently, this was something of a debacle from the Stonegate pubco who owns the pub and refused to renew the licence of Moss & Co. So they left and Stonegate tried to operate the venue themselves under management, but that situation was evidently sub-optimal as they decided they’d revert to the previous arrangement.

It was relatively quiet inside, but that was not entirely unexpected from an afternoon visit on a slightly wet November afternoon. The service was friendly, prompt and warm, with the venue having something of an inviting atmosphere. It’s clean and well presented internally, although it does have something of a clinical feel to it which I assume is linked to the Stonegate organised £200,000 update.

There was a choice of two real ales, Ghost Ship from Adnams and Encore from Lacons. I understand that they would usually have four real ales during busier periods of the year.

I went for the Ghost Ship and it was well-kept, rounded and at the appropriate temperature. And it came with a rather decent view. Julian went for the Encore and seemed delighted by it.

This must be a profitable exercise when the sun is shining during the summer, there’s no shortage of tables here and further down towards the water. I’m not sure that the venue is food led, but the menus are quite extensive and the online reviews for their meals are positive.

This was a positive first pub on our little Oulton Broad expedition, it seemed like a well-run venue with friendly staff, reasonably priced drinks and real ale that was in good condition. All really rather lovely.

Located opposite Oulton Broad North railway station is the former George Borrow pub. Julian the elder has visited this pub many times in his youth, but it’s not one that I ever went in. The pub takes its name from George Borrow (1803-1881) who was a novelist and early travel writer. He was certainly a controversial author and in a mood, the Norwich subscription library burned one of his books in the 1820s which feels a sub-optimal thing for a library to do.

This is from the early 1900s and Oulton Broad still has something of a village feel.

This is Google Streetview from 2009 and it’s the only photo they have of the pub before it was converted into a residential home. It closed in 2008 having opened as a licensed premises in the 1890s. To add confusion to matters, it seems that the venue has also been known as the Station Hotel and the Railway Hotel.

Here’s the venue on the 1890s Ordnance Survey map. In its day, it was also a 12 bedroom hotel, so would have been a convenient location for any travellers needing to catch a train. The nearby station was known as just Oulton Broad at the time, instead of its current Oulton Broad North, as what is now known as Oulton Broad South was then known as Carlton Colville station.

This is what it looks like today…..

At least the former pub sign holder has remained, even if the pub sign itself has gone.